Christmas had such a new meaning this year. Bryce seemed to "get it" this year. Not only the Santa part, but that the real reason for Christmas...Jesus' birth! We attended Christmas Eve service at our church for the Children's sermon. My cousin, Jenni, happened to be at the same service with her family. Bryce really enjoyed hearing the songs. That evening we set out our cookies that we made for Santa as well as carrots for the reindeer. We all went to bed and woke up to see that Santa had arrived and brought Bryce's "pirate shoes" (aka his Halloween costume)!!!
The kids had a blast opening up their gifts and playing with their new toys as well as modeling the clothes. A pivotal moment came when Bryce took a blanket he received and told me to put it on him. I wrapped him in the blanket and he said, "No, mommy, over my head," he then proceeded to say, "Now, give me the baby!" He was pretending to be a shepherd and hold baby Jesus!!! It was priceless and a moment I will never forget.
On Christmas evening, my parents came down and we had my Aunt Gayle, Uncle Larry and Christopher over for dinner. We had such a great time visiting. Lots of laughter was had.
This is a Christmas we will never forget! We hope you all enjoyed the Christmas Holiday as much as we did. Enjoy the pictures.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Christmas Festivities Continue...
On Tuesday I took the kids to see Santa. Bryce kept telling me, "I have already seen Santa, remember in California?" Of course I remember, but mommy was not there and we do not have our professional photo. Well, $25 later and we have the same photo that Nana and Papa got...Bryce with a blank look and Sadie screaming! Oh the memories. Bryce did tell Santa what he would like...Pirate Shoes...good luck Santa!
I decided to have Bryce and I start a new tradition (and will add Sadie next year, she was napping) and make Christmas cookies together for him to pass out to some friends. He had a BLAST doing this! I think he mainly enjoyed doing it because he kept sneaking over and stealing cookies!
Those are the nice photos and I decided to share the picture of my messy kitchen. The price I pay for my son to have a good time!
Today Bryce had his Christmas Program at Preschool...Walk to Bethlehem. For their age group, they have an interactive experience. The preschool director as well as their teachers tell the story of Jesus as the kids get to touch the props (their class made the donkey) and act out the story. It is such a neat experience! Bryce had fun singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday to Jesus. He LOVED holding baby Jesus and saying, "I love you, Jesus!" Sadie enjoyed the story as well and was very intrigued by all the kids.
I decided to have Bryce and I start a new tradition (and will add Sadie next year, she was napping) and make Christmas cookies together for him to pass out to some friends. He had a BLAST doing this! I think he mainly enjoyed doing it because he kept sneaking over and stealing cookies!
Those are the nice photos and I decided to share the picture of my messy kitchen. The price I pay for my son to have a good time!
Today Bryce had his Christmas Program at Preschool...Walk to Bethlehem. For their age group, they have an interactive experience. The preschool director as well as their teachers tell the story of Jesus as the kids get to touch the props (their class made the donkey) and act out the story. It is such a neat experience! Bryce had fun singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday to Jesus. He LOVED holding baby Jesus and saying, "I love you, Jesus!" Sadie enjoyed the story as well and was very intrigued by all the kids.
Monday, December 15, 2008
California Christmas
This year The Reynolds’ Family headed out to California to spend Christmas. My brother Eric lives in San Jose, right outside of San Francisco, so he had a great week of events planned for us. The kids did great on the flights and with the time change. They were troopers with our long days of adventure.
We took a motorized trolley ride around San Fran to see the sights. Bryce thought this was cool, but even more cool he loved walking over the “Golden Gate” Bridge. What an amazing view, but boy was it WINDY!!!
Nana and Papa spent the day with the kids at the San Jose Christmas Parade where they got to see Santa. Bryce really enjoyed meeting the big guy, but Sadie was not too fond of him. Nana and Papa gave her the benefit of the doubt as she was tired and hungry!
While they were all at the parade we headed up to Lake Tahoe, Nevada for some skiing. This is an activity that Eric has taken up since being out there and thought we would all enjoy it. The resort we were going to was not open, due to not having enough snow. So, we went to a resort called Heavenly where they had about 4 runs open with man-made snow. We were all psyched (my two brothers, Eric and Aaron; Aaron’s girlfriend, Ashley; and Jared and I) until we saw the signs “NO BEGINNERS”. Well, most of us had not been on skis in over 15 years, so we were pretty much beginners! Well, we had to get down the mountain somehow. With a few lessons from Eric we all set out, 4 of us (not Eric) wiped out right away, losing skis and left with the reality of how you get up with wearing skis and climbing up to get your lost ski and trying to put it back on while on a 70 degree angle! I am not going to lie, it took us an hour to get down the first time, we finally realized the longer you could stay on your feet the faster you would go making you scared out of your mind but knew it was the fastest way to get to the bottom!
We braked for lunch and when we came out I saw 2 people in 2 minutes go by on stretchers into the ambulance. One girl I had started at the beginning with and found out she was a beginner as well. Reality set in for Jared that this mountain was too dangerous for us being that we could not take the risk of getting injured when we have 2 little ones to care for. So, we set our sights at getting off the mountain, we had one more run to reach the Gondolla. We went to get our skis and mine were gone! We had to contact Ski Patrol and arrange for a snow mobile to take me down. I talked the guy into giving Jared a ride on the snow mobile, because if he didn’t they might as well take him out on a stretcher now! Safe and sound on low ground, we have our sights on skiing again, but starting on a smaller scale! Kudos to Aaron and Ashley who kept up with Eric the entire afternoon!
We spent another day seeing the Redwoods and going to the Pacific Ocean at Santa Cruz. We were all amazed at how big the Redwoods are. Bryce loved that there were some that had “caves” he could climb into.
Sadly the week ended and it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Indiana. We had such a great time visiting and cannot wait to go back and visit and see more of the Bay Area. Jared told the mountain that he would be back to conquer it!
Enjoy the pictures from our trip...
We took a motorized trolley ride around San Fran to see the sights. Bryce thought this was cool, but even more cool he loved walking over the “Golden Gate” Bridge. What an amazing view, but boy was it WINDY!!!
Nana and Papa spent the day with the kids at the San Jose Christmas Parade where they got to see Santa. Bryce really enjoyed meeting the big guy, but Sadie was not too fond of him. Nana and Papa gave her the benefit of the doubt as she was tired and hungry!
While they were all at the parade we headed up to Lake Tahoe, Nevada for some skiing. This is an activity that Eric has taken up since being out there and thought we would all enjoy it. The resort we were going to was not open, due to not having enough snow. So, we went to a resort called Heavenly where they had about 4 runs open with man-made snow. We were all psyched (my two brothers, Eric and Aaron; Aaron’s girlfriend, Ashley; and Jared and I) until we saw the signs “NO BEGINNERS”. Well, most of us had not been on skis in over 15 years, so we were pretty much beginners! Well, we had to get down the mountain somehow. With a few lessons from Eric we all set out, 4 of us (not Eric) wiped out right away, losing skis and left with the reality of how you get up with wearing skis and climbing up to get your lost ski and trying to put it back on while on a 70 degree angle! I am not going to lie, it took us an hour to get down the first time, we finally realized the longer you could stay on your feet the faster you would go making you scared out of your mind but knew it was the fastest way to get to the bottom!
We braked for lunch and when we came out I saw 2 people in 2 minutes go by on stretchers into the ambulance. One girl I had started at the beginning with and found out she was a beginner as well. Reality set in for Jared that this mountain was too dangerous for us being that we could not take the risk of getting injured when we have 2 little ones to care for. So, we set our sights at getting off the mountain, we had one more run to reach the Gondolla. We went to get our skis and mine were gone! We had to contact Ski Patrol and arrange for a snow mobile to take me down. I talked the guy into giving Jared a ride on the snow mobile, because if he didn’t they might as well take him out on a stretcher now! Safe and sound on low ground, we have our sights on skiing again, but starting on a smaller scale! Kudos to Aaron and Ashley who kept up with Eric the entire afternoon!
We spent another day seeing the Redwoods and going to the Pacific Ocean at Santa Cruz. We were all amazed at how big the Redwoods are. Bryce loved that there were some that had “caves” he could climb into.
Sadly the week ended and it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Indiana. We had such a great time visiting and cannot wait to go back and visit and see more of the Bay Area. Jared told the mountain that he would be back to conquer it!
Enjoy the pictures from our trip...
Happy 11 Month Birthday (+1 Day), Sadie!!!
Our baby girl is quickly approaching toddlerhood…YIKES!!! Can I freeze time right now and keep her small forever? She is so loving and cuddly, but we are starting to see so much of her new-found independence, personality coming out.
She is now waving hi and bye, giving high five, giving kisses, and clapping on cue (especially to the song If Your Happy and You Know It). She can say Mama, Dada, and Baba (bottle). She has two more top teeth coming in, making 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She has a full head of light-brown curls and hazel eyes. She is starting to stand unassisted more and more and walking behind her push car. We are predicting she will walk by her first birthday.
Sadie is so happy each morning when she wakes up and is so patient for us to come get her out of her crib. She barely makes a sound when she’s awake as she just plays in her crib. When we walk in the room, she lights up and pulls herself up and gets so excited to see us. I don’t know who is more exited, Sadie to see mommy (or daddy) or mommy to see that beautiful smiling baby!
As fast as we know the baby stage is coming to end, we are so excited to see Sadie grow up. It has been amazing to see Sadie and Bryce interact, they love each other. I know that bond will only get stronger as Sadie gets older and can play alongside Bryce more and more.
On a positive note, this is our last month of baby formula and bottles as we will transition to whole milk and solely using sippy cups.
This is my friend Heather's little boy, Garrett. Sadie is so fascinated by him!
As Garrett checks himself out in the mirror, Sadie checks him out!
Look at those curls!
A little help from mom and dad to begin walking.
Hamiltonfam.com Blog: System Failure
For some reason our normal blog is not working, so I wanted to keep blogging and thought this would be the best way to keep up in the meantime.
Introducing...hamiltonfampartyof4!!!!
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